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Here I am again, 75 days later and still haven’t written a single post about my cookies. I was on a roll for a few months there and then I pretty much dropped off the face of the planet. My excuse? I’ve been busy ;). Want to know the sad part? I lost the recipe for those cookies. My A.D.D riddled mind is on to new recipes and new projects! Before I go on about the other projects and recipes I’ve decided to fill ya in on things I did start and never posted about again, till today.

You’ve probably forgotten but I refinished an old dresser and (said) I would refinish two tables (a dining room table and coffee table). Fortunately, I did finish the dining room table, unfortunately…that poor coffee table is still in the garage.
If you’re confused about what I’m talking about this should help ya out. Anywho, here are the after photos. Please forgive the poop quality, my iPhone camera has water damage (not sure how that happened considering I’ve never dropped it into water) and my camera-camera is dead ATM. The colour I was aiming for was a solid black, however, after applying the first coat we noticed it had a slight blue tinge to it. I should have checked the paint can prior to applying but I was just SOOOOO antsy to get started. Turns out the original colour I wanted – Starlight something or other – was replaced by this new one they handed me called Beluga. Yep, that’s right, my re-finished dresser is called Beluga. Sigh. I wasn’t sure how I felt for the longest time but now that it’s in my room and the hardware is on it…I. LOVE. IT! I wasn’t going to keep the original hardware, either, but I figured I would try them out and see what it looks like. Turned out beautiful, in my opinion.

There you have it! the finished product ;). I’ll talk about my new to-do tomorrow or maybe even later on tonight. I would right now, but my first coat of stain is dry. Gotta go!

I was going to type out the recipe for last nights cookies but then I made another batch tonight – then I realized “oh deary, me! It’s almost midnight!”. So, in a nutshell, last nights and tonight’s recipes will be posted tomorrow. Trust me, the photos alone will make you drool ;).

I was sitting downstairs working on math homeworking, throwing my financial calculator at the wall behind my laptop…when I realized that I was HARSH craving chocolate. Low and behold, this household never has chocolate. Or anything sweet for that matter. SIGH.

Luckily, I love baking. I figured, why not take a break from this brutal homework and indulge in sweets. Win/Win situation, don’t ya think? (Although, I would have preferred something ready and made).

Anyhow, here’s the recipe – they turned out super moist and delicious.

The Ingredients:

1 cup chunky peanut butter

1/4 sunflower oil

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips (this part is optional, I didn’t have any chocolate chips so I cut it out)

It’s a sunny, spring Saturday. It honestly can’t get better than this. Aside from a sunny, SUMMER Saturday.

I said I’d post the recipe for my strawberry oat bars on Friday, unfortunately I got a little sidetracked once again. So, I’m typing it out today :).

The Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 cup strawberry jam

The Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly grease pan

2. In a medium bowl combine first 7 ingredients until the mixture comes together – coarse crumb

3. Press 2/3s of the mixture into the prepared pan. Spread the jam onto the crust.

4. Here I made a chocolate mixture using cocoa powder, some sugar and milk and spread that on top of the strawberry jam.

5. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top

6. Bake for roughly 20 to 30 minutes.

7. Cool and eat :).
There you have it, super super simple recipe!! – I was going to take pictures however when it came time to, the family had consumed all of the oat bars :(. BOO!

Now for the other part of my daily blah blah blah.

This little girl, is the love of my life. No joke. She drives me crazy, like any “child” drives their mother crazy..but I adore her with every fiber of my being.

Saying that though, it truly is a shame that she despises the sunshine. She hides. We went to the dog park and she spent the entire time in the tall grassy area, hiding. Meanwhile, I’m basking in all of the suns glory.

I wonder how she’ll do on a nice summer hike. I’m not prepared to care her or find her a mini umbrella hat. Although, I have to be honest here, how incredibly badass would that be? A dog with an umbrella hat. I’d feel like a total goof walking her. But at least she’d walk and not make me drag her behind. Hmmm..ideas are forming! You must think I’m crazy, which is partially true. Who isn’t though?

Anyways! There just is nothing like this beautiful sunshine and warm weather we’re experience in beautiful British Columbia, in the middle of May! HEAVEN. Which brings me to my other point. Songs.

You know how there are songs that just don’t sound the same when you listen to them during fall or winter? I have to say that Sublime’s “Santeria”, “Summer Time”(well duh!) & “What I got” – to name a few; City and Colour’s “The grande optimist”, “O’ Sister” as well as a bunch of Tiger Army, Lady Antebellum and T.Swift songs are just like that. Everyone has their “summer” tracks. And sometimes we get fooled into playing them a wee bit early ;). Like now for instance. What are your summer tracks? Think about it. Let me know, if ya want to :).

Not too long ago, well okay – a month ago today, I wrote a post titled Traditional Turkish Cooking and talked about attempting to cook traditional foods everyday (or every other day). Clearly, I lied. I have made absolutely no effort, whatsoever, to cook Turkish foods. I’m not entirely sure why. I’m still very interested in attempting it but I’ve just been so side tracked by cooking with zucchini, quinoa and Asian vegetables and sauces that Turkish food just isn’t a priority. So I am writing this as a reminder, mainly to myself, that I will attempt different recipes at least once a week. I’m not promising any photographs or recipes, unless of course I succeed and am proud of what I’ve cooked. Heck, I may not even mention I’ve attempted cooking something if it turns out absurdly awful.

There are two reasons why I may not even mention the failed attempts, should they happen. Number one, I feel like I would be failing my ancestors should I fail. I’d feel as though cooking certain foods should just come to me, naturally. Yes, I do realize how crazy that sounds. Try not to judge too harshly! Number two, well, I’ll probably try the recipe again till I succeed, in which case I will go on to write about the win rather than the lose. I’m a perfectionist and have a hard time giving up on things. Especially things that I am passionate about.

As you can see, I’m trying not to give up on this. Trying is the key word here :).

Sweet dreams, good morning, hello/goodbye.

-D

PS

The two tables I am refinishing (dining room table as well as coffee table) should be done within the next two weeks, I’m hoping. I reiterate, I never thought refinishing was so tedious. Stay tuned for pictures of all the refinishing projects!

I am mad, crazy, insane about the lemon & poppy-seed combination. I think they go together just as peanut butter and jam do. Match made in heaven:). So, it was to my complete amazement that I had yet to bake anything that was lemon/poppy-seed. I couldn’t believe it. I’m a huge fan of tiny cups of deliciousness, as I’ve said in previous posts – I didn’t want to make a loaf or a cake or anything ridiculously large. Muffins it would have to be! Turns out, just like most recipes, there’s over a million, billion “the best” or “to die for” recipes out there. BAH! I decided to just go with one of my favourite sites JoCooks.

I’m glad I did. These muffins were to die for, stupidly delicious and, if you can believe it, remotely healthy. PERFECT (considering I’m on a healthy food and gym kick :)). But seriously, just look at it, don’t those look amazing? I’m sure you don’t truly care about the picture, so I’ll get on with giving you the recipe.

The Recipe

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons cream cheese

1/4 cup butter, softened (I used a teensy bit less)

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

zest from one lemon

lemon juice from 1/2 lemon (I used almost the full lemon)

1/2 teaspoon salt (okay, so for the salt…I ran out of normal salt and all I had on hand was sea salt, I didn’t crush it up, I just through it in as is, the little kick of salt once in a while is GOOD)

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

The Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°

2. Add butter and sugar into bowl and mix until light and fluffy

3. Add the egg and cream cheese and continue mixing until everything is thoroughly mixed